Abstract

Nearly one in ten professionals now works part-time. But all too often, part-time work creates as many problems as it solves. At best, many part-timers work more hours than they intended. At worst, they see their importance to their organizations dwindle. Two generations have wrestled with such arrangements, and today some part-time professionals have found ways to overcome the challenges, with shining results. Drawing on two years of research investigating part-time engineers, financial analysts, IT specialists, and consultants, the authors present five strategies used by successful part-timers to make their unique position work for themselves and their companies. To begin with, successful part-time professionals take pains to make their work-life priorities, their schedules, and their plans for the future transparent to the organization. Second, they broadcast the business case for their arrangement, being careful to demonstrate that the arrangement has not disrupted the business and may even have a positive impact. Third, they establish routines to protect their time at work and rituals to protect their time at home. Fourth, they cultivate champions in senior management who protect them from skeptics and advocate for their arrangements up and down the ranks. And last, they gently but firmly remind their colleagues that, despite their part-time status, they're still major players in the organization who cannot be ignored. Taken together, these strategies not only help the part-timer deal with the organization but also make the organization itself more receptive to the possibilities of part-time work.